Chernobyl Has Found Its Voice

The documentaries on Chernobyl seem to focus on the braveness of the firemen, the liquidators, the problems containing the reactor, the deserted city and ironies of a child’s toy or playgrounds with no one in them. The sense is that there were drastic jobs to be done
under horrendous conditions.
Alexievich is a serious writer, and the voices she selects yield a massively different picture of human suffering. Glasnost be damned, she reveals deeper truths of not knowing and fear and confusion that those that were effected by this disaster experienced. I can give one concrete aspect: radiation can not be seen, so imagine the difficulties making the average person understand the issues. Geiger-counters were confiscated, and their meaning was just an unknown as well. But the artist’s gaze creates a whole new perspective on Chernobyl. I knew I was hearing a truth that I should have seen in the first place. The whole book is one “aha” experience.